Corinth Holders volleyball edges Cleveland Rams

That was how Corinth Holders sophomore Jamie Turner described the feeling she had after her kill shot went off the hands of a Cleveland blocker and landed wide to give the Pirates a 3-2 victory Thursday in a Two Rivers 3A Conference volleyball match.

That word could also be applied to the match, a back-and-forth battle that saw each team come from behind. The momentum swung like a pendulum, finally landing on the Pirates’ side when they held off yet another Cleveland rally to win the final set 15-13.

“That was a great match,” said Corinth Holders coach Charles Riley, whose team moved into a tie with Cleveland for third place in the conference with a 4-4 league record. “I just had a feeling it was going to go into game five for some reason tonight.

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“We do drills in practice to put our team in a disadvantage and see if they can fight back. I said, ‘This is no different than what we do in practice.’ ”

Corinth Holders (7-7 overall) struck first, winning the first set 25-18. Cleveland seized control by winning the next two sets 25-23 and 25-15.

Cleveland (12-5) jumped to a 4-1 lead in the fourth set and appeared ready to put Corinth Holders away with a 21-16 lead. The Rams were up 23-20 when the Pirates pounced – scoring five straight points to win 25-23.

“That is exactly what we practice, trying to score five points before the other team scores two,” Riley said. “And that’s what we did tonight.”

Turner had a pair of kills in the five-point run and 6-foot junior Katelyn Leach (who had a match-high 23 kills and four blocks) also had a kill.

It came down to a 15-point fifth set, and Corinth Holders seized the momentum when the score was tied at 6-6. The Pirates scored five straight points to go ahead 11-6, but Cleveland was not going down easily.

The Rams score four straight points to pull within 11-10. Down 14-12, the Rams edged within 14-13 on Wallie Driggers’ team-high 16th kill. Marina Roe had 15 kills for the Rams.

On Cleveland’s next serve, the Pirates made a good pass to the front line and the ball was set to Turner on the left side. She smashed the ball over the net and off the hands of a Cleveland blocker for the winner – a 15-13 ending to a classic five-setter.

“I was thinking we have been playing as a team the whole match,” said Turner, who had 15 kills. “We deserved to win this game. We played our best game (of the season).”

The victory earned Corinth Holders a split of their two regular-season matches with Cleveland and gave the Pirates hopes for a postseason shot with two regular-season matches left.

“I’m just proud of the girls,” Riley said. “If it had gone the other way, I still would have been proud of them for the way they competed, the way they fought.”